Unwritten Rules

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

black Americans were made to feel as if they were subordinate to the majority. Cullen and Soyinka both reveal how black people were put down during this time period.
In this time period during which "Incidents and Telephone Conversation" occur, segregation of black people and white people was the social norm. In the majority of public places black and white people were forced to use separate facilities, among other things. Segregation was common in restaurants, schools, and businesses. "Segregation was the rule in public accommodations, health care, housing, schooling, work, the legal system, and interpersonal relations (Jaynes and Williams 58). In "Incident", a white child sticks his tongue out at a black child reflecting his feelings that he should not have to socialize with a black child. By this child's behavior, one can see how the ideas of this era were ingrained into society. Even a young child felt he should not socialize with a black child. This child felt that ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

for a black child, the white child is excluding the black child from social interaction. " And so I smile, but he poked out/ His tongue, and called me,'Nigger.''' By his actions, the white child demonstrates his preference to only socialize with other white people and to exclude black people from his social circle. "Telephone Conversation" portrays a woman who would like to exclude "very dark" people from renting her property. This woman grew up in a time period where it was legal and ethical to discriminate against blacks. The African American trying to rent the property faced being excluded from any property whose owner does not wish to rent to African Americans. In the time period of ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: